GSTN clarifies on validity of notices, orders without digital signature of taxmen

GST Network on Thursday said show cause notices and assessment orders issued by the tax officer on the GST portal do not have digital signatures of the tax officers but such details are getting stored in the backend.

In an advisory to taxpayers, GSTN said the validity of the document and who and for what purpose these documents have been issued can also be verified by the taxpayer pre-login as well as after login from the GST common portal.

Doubts have been created regarding the validity of documents issued by the tax officers on the common portal viz. SCN/orders without the digital signatures on the PDF (portable document format) document downloaded from the common portal.

The GSTN said it is to be mentioned that such documents are generated on the common portal from the login of the officer, who logs in using a digital signature.

"These documents being computer generated on the command of the officer, may not require physical signatures of the officer as these documents can be issued by the officer only after logging into the common portal using Digital Signature,”

"Thus, all these documents in JSON format containing the order details along with the issuing officer details are stored in the GST system with the digital signature of the issuing officer," the GSTN said.

Moore Singhi Executive Director Rajat Mohan said the latest advisory from GSTN addresses concerns about the validity of notices, orders and other official documents issued by tax officers on the GST portal, especially when these documents do not show physical digital signatures in their downloadable PDF format.

The main question is whether the lack of visible digital signatures affects the legal status of these documents. In the past, following instructions from High Courts, the government introduced the Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) to improve the accuracy and authenticity of documents certified by professionals. UDIN ensures the credibility of documents issued by GST officers, he said.

"In the future, the government could consider merging the Reference Number and UDIN into one system for easier and more efficient document verification," Mohan added.